A Guide to the Elizabeth City County (Va.) Coroner's Report related to the death of Ida V. Belote, 1912 Mar. 30 Elizabeth City County (Va.) Coroner's Report related to the death of Ida V. Belote, 1912 Mar. 30
0007431368

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Preferred Citation

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Coroner's Report related to the death of Ida V. Belote, 1912 Mar. 30. Local government records
collection, Hampton/Elizabeth City County (Va.) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of records from Hampton Circuit Court.

Virginia Christian was convicted of murder and sentenced to death 1912 May 15, and executed in Richmond 1912 Aug. 16. She
was the first woman executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia after the General Assembly centralized executions at the Virginia
State Penitentiary in 1908.

Elizabeth City County (extinct) was named for Elizabeth, daughter of James I, and was one of the eight shires established
in 1634. It became extinct in 1952, when it was incorporated into the city of Hampton, which was the county seat. Isle of
Wight County was most likely named for the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. It was first known as Warrosquyoake
and was one of the eight shires established in 1634. The present name was given in 1637. Part of Nansemond County was added
in 1769.

Hampton takes its name from Hampton Creek, earlier called Southampton River in honor of the earl of Southampton, an important
figure in the Virginia Company of London. An Indian village stood on the site in 1607, when John Smith visited the area. The
English established a village there in 1610 and a trading post in 1630. Hampton was established by an act of assembly in 1680
and was designated as a port in 1708. It was first incorporated as a town in 1849, then incorporated again in 1852, but the
act of incorporation was repealed in 1860. The General Assembly again incorporated the town of Hampton in 1887, and it became
a city by court order in 1908. It was greatly enlarged in 1952 by a merger with Elizabeth City County and the town of Phoebus;
the county and town thereby became extinct.

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Coroner's Report related to the death of Ida V. Belote, 1912 Mar. 30, contains the report submitted
by Elizabeth City County Coroner, Dr. G.K. Vanderslice, on the death of Belote in her home 1912 Mar. 18. The report contains
the Coroner's examination of the body and the room where the victim was found, his postmortem examination of the victim, and
testimony taken at the sheriff's office 1912 Mar. 18 and submitted as evidence to the coroner's jury.

The witnesses whose testimony was entered as evidence were Ida Belote's three daughters, including Harriet, age 13, who discovered
her mother's body when she came from school; neighbors, a police officer, and other witnesses. The coroner's report concluded
Belote was killed from injuries, wounds, and strangulations received at the hands of Virginia Christian, and that the death
was a result of deliberate murder. Christian was a laundress who had worked for Belote. According to the testimony in the
report, Belote had accused Christian of stealing a skirt.

Additional records pertaining to the Christian case can be found at the Library of Virginia in the Virginia State Penitentiary
Collection, 1796-1991 (Accession 41558). These records are currently closed for processing, but selected records from the
case have been digitized and are available on the Library of Virginia's "Out of the Box" blog 2010 Sep. 14 entry. The coroner's report from the case can be found in Hampton/Elizabeth City County coroner's records available
at the Library of Virginia. The original case, Elizabeth City County (Va.) Commonwealth vs. Virginia Christian, can be found in Hampton/Elizabeth City County court records.